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Saturday, February 5, 2011

Homemade fun

Babies love to make noise. What better toy to make that noise with that good ol' pot and pans and wooden spoons? He's completely OVER his own baby toys so we had to get creative.Good thing his birthday is coming up... maybe a few new toys are in order?

If you have a 1yr old... or know a 1yr old... or USED to have a 1yr old...What were their favorite toys at that age? (All babies love electronics but there is no way in H-E double hockey sticks he's getting an iPad!)I need ideas. I have no clue! And our space is small so its gotta be compact. Yeah, I know. Good luck with that :-)

18 comments:

At age 1 my little guy loved any type of musical stuff, we got him a small wooden piano and he LOVED it. But a nice assortment of tamborines, shaky eggs, wooden sticks etc... are always a lot of fun. Besides that the other favorite was anything they can push around and walk with, even when they master walking boys tend to still love those items. My guys turning 3 next month and we he still loves pushing his little shopping cart everywhere!

Beginner Legos! Those giant ones, you can build a building, and then knock it over! My boys used to sit there for a long time! They're now 4 and 7, they still love those giant ones, even though they have the smaller Legos and sets :) I agree with the pushing toys too! or anything they can sit, ride and push themselves - the little Thomas the Train is still being used :) Good luck! hugs, margie

Wooden Blocks! Timeless, noiseless (except for when they knock them over) and creative As he grows creatively, he will be able to make more elaborate buildings. I am amazed how differently my husband and I play blocks with the kids. He builds castles, and I sort my color and see how high of a tower we can build.

A (non-electric!) sit and spin is a great toy that he's just getting big enough to figure out. Ours is still in regular use at 5 and 3. I also love those big cardboard blocks you fold and put together, but they do take up some space.

He is so handsome! And I love the way you have him dressed--on trend with the grey and the yellow and the stripes ;)

I also recommend push toys as he's starting to walk. My daughter loved to push her scooter ladybug around even before she was big enough to actually ride on it. A play shopping cart was a hit too. Something they can stand up with and move but still have a little stability.

Why not stick with the pots and pans? Add a few plastic containers and a bin to put them away in and then let him take them out again, and again and again. Save your pennies for those big ticket items later on. He will not know the difference. I have 4 kids and the store bought toys were never as good as the boxes, pots, spoons and plastic containers. He's a cutie ...I'm sure he'll charm some grandparent, aunt or uncle to buy him all he wants :)))

My daughter also always loved something she could push around and ride on at that age. The other big hit (that's also not expensive) is things like shape sorters or the like where they can sit there posting posting posting. Lastly he might not be quite up to it right yet but in a couple of months- we got Hannah a drawing mat with which you draw using water filled pens. Hours of creative fun! I think she was 15 months when we got her hers. (we had a long distance flight to take). Also bubbles. They are the best ever.

I just bought my 1 yr old nephew some lego duplos and thay were a hit. My daughter, (now 26!) loved blocks. We would pile them up and she would knock them down. Went on for hours. And boxes are always good too, or wrapping paper tubes . . .

I have a 13-month-old and he is so over toys too. It's really challenging trying to keep him occupied sometimes! He does have some big MEGA blocks that he's finally able to put together (although he prefers to knock them down). He loves this Leap Frog fridge toy that is a farm where you put two ends of an animal together. Cars that pull back and go are a hit too. My inlaws have those big plastic beads that pop together and he loves those. But really, he prefers to carry around the hose attachments for our vaccuum cleaner, pull out the pots and pans or hit a measuring cup along the bottom of our oven, or throw tennis balls for our dogs.

Why not let him continue to play with pots and pans? Or large plastic storage containers? But I guess you do need one or two "official" toys. But I think the toys are for us adults, so we don't feel guilty; as Eli is showing you, he is perfectly content to play with pots and pans!

Oh goodness - this brings back memories. My girls did the same thing...it could get very loud. They also liked to pull up a chair next to the sink and we would fill it up with bubbles...add some my pretty ponies and you have hours of fun!!! Pretty sure they were a little older...able to stand next to the sink on a chair without falling. They would also take all the cushions off the couch and build "houses" they could crawl into with the cushions. Fun,fun!

My son is 14 months old, and he loves books. He adores them. He plays with them constantly. Fabric books, hard pages books, as long as they have bright colours and stuff to touch and make noise with, he's a happy fella.

Also, another big hit have been his building blocks. He loves emptying the can on the floor and then putting them back in the can!